Trolley or collector wheel for electric railways



(No Model.)

- S. H. SHORT. TROLLEY 0R COLLECTOR WHEEL FOR ELEGTRIG RAILWAYS. No.427,628. Patented May 13, 1890.

m5 NoRms PETERS cm, more-urns, wnsnmarcu, n. c.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIDNEY II. SHORT, OF CLEVELAND, OllI'O.

TROLLEY OR COLLECTOR WHEEL FOR ELECTRIC RAI LWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,628, dated May 13,1890. Application filed March 18, 1890- Serial No. 344,328. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SIDNEY H. SHORT, of Cleveland, in the county ofCuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Trolley or CollectorlVheels for Electric Railways; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which to it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has reference to trolley or collector wheels, notablyadapted for use in connection with electric railways in which a lineorlines of conductors are arranged paral- I 5 lel to and extending alongthe line of travel.

In such railways a wheel or wheels of conducting material are made totravel with the motor-car and in contact with the line or lines ofconductors to convey the current from the same to the electric motor onthe car. The rails of the road may themselves constitutethelineconductors or one of them, and a collectorwheel may thentravel incontact with such rail or rails; or one or more collector-wheels may beused forconveying the current from an underground or overhead conductorto, the motorcar. More especially in the latter case are thecollector-wheels exposed to the weather,

and if made of metal, as has heretofore uni-v 3o versally been done,these collectors, more especially when not in active use, become soonoxidized whereby the electric contact is impaired and considerablesparking is thereby occasioned. The rapid movement of 5 thecollector-wheel in contact with the line conductor is also accomplishedbya loud and disturbing noise, and the expense of such metalliccollectorwvheels is considerable.

The object of my invention is to avoid the defects and inconveniencespointed out; and

r I accomplish this result by making the body of the-collectowwheel ofcarbon, which is not injuriously affected by weather, runs noiselesslyover the line-conductor, and by reason 5 of the good and intimatecontact it makes produces no sparking. In addition thereto my improvedcollector wheel or roller does not wear the line-conductor to the sameextent as a metallic wheel, and is manufactured with ease and at muchless cost than the latter.

According to the form and location of the line-conductor in connectionwith which the collector-wheel is to he used, the form of the same andthe manner of mounting it upon a trolley-arm will change. I am,therefore, not confined to a particular shape of collectorwheel nor toits use in connection with any particular line-conductor.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated in Figure 1 an elevationof a collector-wheel of my improved construction mounted uponatrolley-arm. and beari ng upon an overhead line-conductor, and in Fig.2 a vertical section of the collector-wheel and overhead conductor online x at, Fig. 1.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts all throughout thedrawings.

The body 1 of my collector-wheel is made of a carboi'laccous mixture ofthekind known as plastic carbon or Bunsen carbon, which is nowuniversally used for the 1nanufacture of electrodes, rods, or pencilsfor electrio-arc lights, and for batteries. Preferably the carbon whichI use is of fine grain and of uniform density, like the welhknown Carror Brush carbons found in the market. By preference also the wheel. isformed in suitable molds under great pressure, so that the surfacebecomes very much denser than the interior, and constitutes in effect avery hard skin, whiclrenvelops the body of the wheel. IVhile this is thepreferable construc tion of the body of the contact-wheel, I am notabsolutely confined to the same, since it may be made by shaping a soliddisk of carbon by means of suitable cutting or grinding tools. In thiscase the interior comparatively porous portion of the carbon would beexposed; but, as will presently appear, the contact surface of the wheelwill be condensed, either in the process of manufacture or by use.

The circumferential surface of the wheel is shaped to adapt the same tothe shape of the line-conductor. In the drawings, the line conductor isshown as a cylindrical wire 2, and the wheel therefore, formed with awide groove 3, the bottom 4: of which constitutes the contactsurface,and this contact-surface becomes condensed and highly polished by use,whether the groove has been formed in the mold or by cutting. In eithercase, however, it maybe polished in the course of manu at one end with acircular flange 6', whichcovers part of one face of the Wheel, whileanother similar flange '7 is fitted to the other end of the bushing andagainst the other face of the wheel. I

The two flanges or face-plates 6 7 are secured to the Wheel by bolts 88, and the wheel is mounted upon a trolley-arm 9 in any ordinary orapproved manner.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters j Patent, is

1. A trolley or collector wheel of carbon,

substantially as described.

2. A trolley or collector wheel of Bunsen carbon, substantially asdescribed.

3. A trolley or collector wheel of carbon,

having its contact-surface condensed, substantially as described.

4. A trolley or collector wheel of carbon, having its contact-surfacepolished, substantially as described.

5-. A trolley or collector wheel of carbon, provided with a metallicaxle-box, substantially as described.

6. A trolley or collector wheel of carbon,

- provided with a metallic axle-box and metal- I lie face-plates,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this 5 specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

SIDNEY H. SHORT.

\Vitnessesz A. B. CALHOUN,- W. A. PALLANT.

